Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
PNB has the largest branch network in India - 4525 offices including 432
extension counters spread throughout the country. It has been ranked as
248th biggest bank in the world by Bankers Almanac, London. It had
correspondent banking relationships with more than 217
international banks of the world.
The vision of PNB is to be a Leading Global Bank with Pan India footprints
and become a household brand in the Indo-Gangetic Plains providing
entire range of financial products and services under one roof. With this
vision in mind they work as the "Banking for the unbanked"
Apart from offering banking products, the bank has also entered the credit
card & debit card business; bullion business; life and non-life insurance
business; Gold coins & asset management business, etc. Different
products and services of the bank is as follows:
Financial Performance
Mar'0
Parameters Mar'08 Mar'09 CAGR
7
Operating Profit* 3617 4006 5744 26.02
Net Profit* 1540 2049 3091 41.67
13986
Deposit 166457 209760 22.47
0
Advance 96597 119502 154703 26.55
23645
Total Business 285959 364463 24.15
6
(Rs.Crores)
Source: pnbindia.in
Why CRM?
The beginning
In March 2000, the penetration and use of IT was not very high at PNB.
The bank used seven different software which ran on 13 different flavours
of UNIX, on standalone PCs. The 500-odd branches were not networked
and only 35 percent of the bank's business was computerized. The overall
expertise in IT among users was low.
the bank realized that there was a lot of opportunity to create a stable IT
infrastructure which would fuel future growth. But there was also the need
to honor the CVC deadline to computerize at least 70 percent of its
business within December 2000. The bank now has around 4,000
branches.
Action
PNB hired a consultant and devised a two-pronged plan of action. The plan
comprised:
In order to meet the CVC deadline the bank decided to deploy simple IT
infrastructure so that it could computerize 70 percent of its business
within the deadline. The IT team decided to implement an application,
which could run on standalone PCs across its nationwide branches.
The bank selected two hardware vendors and the application software
was embedded into the hardware to make them 'plug-and-play' capable.
Nelito's package was deployed at one branch at a time. And after each
successful implementation at a branch, it was replicated at a newer
branch.
Internal training sessions for the bank personnel were conducted with the
help of 14 training institutes. The source code of the product was tweaked
to facilitate deployment. The IT team was specially trained to re-architect
the source code, and make any modifications, improvements, value
additions, and enhancements. Deployment at the selected branches was
over by December 2000.
The bank requested CVC for an extension of the deadline and was granted
time till March 2001. By March 2001, 70.60 percent of the bank's business
was computerized.
Long-term strategy
In the long-term, PNB wanted a technology that would consolidate all its
business resources and sustain the bank's future growth. It also wanted to
create its own network, which would play a vital role in its success. Three
consultants were appointed to review technology options for long-term
adoption. The verdict of the consultants was to deploy a centralized core
banking architecture.
On 30 March 2001, the bank used the services of Infosys for the
deployment of Finnacle. A core team was selected, which would be the
heart of the project. Infosys trained 200-odd personnel from a core team
over six months. The core team modified and customized the package
according to its specific needs.
Systems
Before deploying the core banking architecture, PNB used servers which
were NT-based, from IBM, and from other vendors. The bank conducted
benchmarking tests for Finnacle on various server platforms. And it was
satisfied with the performance of Sun's hardware on Solaris. Sun's Fire
servers, Solaris OS, and Oracle's RDBMS are now in use.
Network design
Cisco has tied up with PNB to evolve the network design and implement a
nationwide
network backbone to connect all its offices. Cisco will assist the bank in
understanding and implementing the various technologies associated with
the project. The converged network infrastructure will allow PNB to
standardize the applications and software needed to provide the banking
services.
The network infrastructure will have a three-tier architecture. The network
hub will be in its data center. The various branches would be connected to
the data center using new-world routing and switching technologies.
PNB got a license from RBI to offer Internet banking services. Some of the
RBI preconditions were that the systems should be audited by an
independent auditor, and an independent and authentic agency must
carry out penetration testing. The bank has already had its systems
audited by an external agency, and the penetration testing process is still
going on.
In the process, PNB has developed the skills of its own personnel to take
charge of security on their own at a later stage. The bank will also recruit
technically trained staff to provide the necessary knowledge pool. With
the Internet banking launch, the bank will also strengthen its
security policy.
Storage systems
The Sun hardware uses an in-built storage management tool. Bajwa feels
that the bank doesn't need a third-party storage management tool right
now since the database is not too large. However the bank is considering
a storage management application from Veritas.
101 branches of the bank are on a WAN. The bank plans to put 500-odd
branches on the WAN this year, and in three years the WAN will have
2000-odd branches. The bank tried a number of connectivity options.
802.11b wireless connectivity was installed in five branches to begin with.
The bank then explored the option of leased lines and used connectivity
from MTNL and BSNL. It also used Bharti's leased line between Mumbai
and Delhi. The bank now uses Reliance Infocomm's fiber optic backbone
along with the leased lines in locations where the optic fiber does not
reach. However, the use of Reliance Infocomm's infrastructure may be
temporary.
Network management
PNB has appointed HCL Com-net to carry out 24x7 monitoring of the
countrywide network. There's a live link between HCL Comnet's NOC and
PNB's IT head office. The network is monitored remotely and can also be
viewed at the bank's IT facility, where a separate monitoring system is
used for the Base24 Switch. Reliance has set up a NOC at PNB's premise
to monitor its optic fiber network.
Security
Cisco was chosen as the service provider who could meet these stringent
requirements. The bank uses a range of security products like Firewalls
and IDSs from Cisco for its security needs in its LANs and WAN. All data
transactions between its routers and switches are encrypted. It has
appointed Ramco Systems as the security integrator. The security
integrator is responsible for the complete security infrastructure and is
answerable for any security breach or lapse. The bank will also appoint a
security administrator. Verisign will provide the necessary Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) to the bank for secure transactions.